but the night is still (and i have not yet lost my will)
by Brittana-is-Love99
Summary: Clarke moved across the country to support her father through his last months, away from her friends and all sense of familiarity. When she comes home a year later, she doesn't expect her oldest friend to have a hopeless crush on their other best friend, doesn't expect to see Monty and Miller still pining for each other, and she certainly doesn't expect Lexa.


Chapter 1

 _Clarke (02:23): raven_

 _Clarke (02:24): raven guess what_

 _Raven (02:26): clarke it is too early for this what_

 _Clarke (02:26): i'm moving back_

Clarke Griffin lets out a small chuckle into her pillow when, not thirty seconds after she sent that last text, her phone vibrates and her screen shows a picture of her and Raven, taken last time she visited, on a night out with the rest of the gang. She braces herself for the inevitable outburst about to hit her and answers the call.

"Well, hello, Rav-"

"Clarke, you _bitch_! What the hell! Why didn't you tell me? When? How? I thought you were-"

"Whoa, slow down, Rae, like you said, it's too early for this. Ark offered Abby a new contract, way better than Jaha's, apparently. Starts next week. It's all fairly last minute and I was just going to show up outside your door, but I figured maybe a little warning would've been nice, you know?," Clarke rushes out, stuttering a bit. She lets out a breath when she stops speaking and hears Raven breathe a sigh of her own.

"Did you say next week, Clarke?" Raven says, and she sounds entirely too choked up for this hour, and Clarke really can't help it when tears brim to the surface of her eyes. "Like, she's starting next week, so you must be coming back sooner than that, right? Clarke, I-"

"Tomorrow, Raven. We're coming back tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow," Clarke lets her tears fall then, when she hears the surprised sob and the sound of Raven's muffled crying afterwards. "We're in a motel, in Cleveland. We've been on the road for a few days. I wanted to wait to tell you, so it would be a surprise."

"Okay," Raven says and Clarke knows that might be all she can say. She hears Raven sniffling and she knows she's doing that thing where she shakes her head like a dog after she's been crying. "Okay, well then. Good. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Aw no, Reyes, please tell me you're not getting soft on me. Have I really been gone that lo-"

" _Clarke_."

" _Raven_. I'll see you tomorrow."

Clarke hangs up then, without letting Raven reply. She gets up out of bed, and feels around for her glasses on the nightstand. She locates them and, after giving them a quick rub with her oversized pyjama shirt, places them on her face. She treads softly into her bathroom, and switches on the light. She winces at her reflection. Her eyes are bloodshot, both from the tears and the fact that she has had roughly 8 hours of sleep in the past week, partly because of the shitty motel beds she's been in, but mostly because she is so excited to finally be on her way back home. The bags under her eyes are deep and dark and rimmed with purple. She takes off her glasses, turns on the cold tap and cups her hands together under it. She splashes a handful on her face and rubs her eyes hard. The cold stings but it refreshes her. She takes a cheap, beige, plastic cup, fills it with water and rinses her mouth out with it.

She makes her way back into her small room, too awake for this time of the morning. She sighs, knowing she really does need to sleep tonight, it's her turn to drive tomorrow and they have to be on the road in six hours if they want to get back at a halfway decent hour. She curses herself for volunteering to drive the home stretch; she wants to be at somewhat rested, so she can be at least half coherent enough to deal with her friends. Or, she wants to be put together enough to not break down in tears when she sees them again. But, that'll probably happen anyway.

She slips under the light covers, onto the lumpy mattress and sinks into it. She feels how heavy with sleep her body is and how much her chest aches for home. Her eyelids thankfully drift shut a moment later, and she falls into a somewhat fitful, nervous slumber.

/

She is rudely awakened from her restless sleep by the sounds of her mother in the shower in the next room over. It's one of those ones that makes a really obnoxious noise and she curses her mother in this moment. She groans and rids her eyes of sleep, before opening them reluctantly. She winces at the light streaming in from the slit in the beige curtains, onto her bed. She presses her phone on, and squints her eyes, so that her poor vision can make out the time on the screen.

8:54am.

Ugh, she really does need to get up and out of bed now. She spurs herself on with the thought of finally seeing her friends again. With one final deep breath, she yanks back the covers and sits on the edge of her bed. It takes her longer than usual to wake up; mainly because that's the most sleep she's gotten in the one go in like, 8 days. She shakes off the heaviness clouding her head and reaches around for her glasses on the nightstand. She blinks her eyes into focus, and heaves herself to her feet.

She pulls out a clean pair of underwear and an unworn pair of socks from the rucksack she's been living out of for the past few days. She fastens on her bra that hangs off the chair by her bed. She sighs and pulls on the same comfy, loose, slightly grubby jeans she's been wearing for far too long and the last clean t-shirt she has in her bag. She searches around for her the shoes, finally locating one of them under the bed, the other one in the corner by the door, having been flung there the night before.

She trudges into the bathroom to grab her small bag of toiletries, and to brush her teeth. She catches an unexpected glance of herself in the mirror and, Jesus. Not really much she can do about her face, all of her cosmetics are in a box, somewhere in the van they rented to transport all their things in, so she settles on scraping her hair back into a messy bun, keeping her black framed glasses resting on her nose instead of replacing them with her contacts, and trying not to think about who could possibly see her looking like this. She brushes her teeth and looks around the bathroom, searching for stray items she may be forgetting.

Finding nothing, with one last glance at her pitiful reflection and a final sigh, she makes her way out to where her stuff is, and surveys the room in front of her. She stuffs whatever belongings she had on her nightstand into her trusty backpack, picks up her room key and heads out the door to face her mother.

The sunlight hits her full force when she steps out of the room, and she is momentarily blinded. She squints and waits for her eyes to adjust the sudden brightness, before lightly knocking on her mother's room door. She doesn't hear the loud shower anymore, so she knows Abby heard it. She gets no response and she knocks again a minute later, harder this time.

"Mom," she calls out softly, as she knocks, and she can finally hear her mother moving to open the door. She looks just as tired as Clarke does when she flings open the door, but fresher, since Clarke hadn't bothered with a shower. Her eyes probably look worse than Clarke's, darker bags, and the evidence of tears shed the night before could be seen. Clarke sighs and fixes her mother with a small smile. "Nearly ready to head out?"

"Oh, yes, nearly, give me two minutes, hang on for me by the van," Abby rushes out and she barely waits for Clarke to respond with an 'okay' before she shuts the door.

Clarke raises her eyebrows to herself and rolls her eyes at her mother's typical behaviour. She knows moving back is hard for her mother, and really, she's never been the most present parent, even when Clarke's father was alive, but she could be at least polite to, maybe even considerate of, her own daughter. Clarke wasn't surprised though; her mother had kind of disappeared after Jake's death, throwing herself into her work, leaving Clarke pretty much to her own devices, which any other 18-year-old would love. But, Abby wasn't there for Clarke when she needed her most, when she needed her mother's support. And when she'd decided, without consulting Clarke, to stay in California for another year, well, that was the tipping point for her and Clarke's relationship. They had barely had a proper conversation in a year.

Clarke leans back against their small moving van, not really caring if the dust dirtied her jeans. They had a week's worth of grime on them already. She closes her eyes against the sun and thinks about possible scenarios for when she returned. Raven had hopefully told the whole gang by now, so at least they won't be completely shocked. Octavia would probably cry, Raven would probably be braced to be able to contain her tears. Monty would definitely cry. Jasper would wrap her in one of his big hugs and spin her around. Bellamy, if he's around; Clarke doesn't really know what he's up to these days, she hasn't heard much about him for a few weeks, would probably do the same.

Clarke is shaken from her daydream by the sound of her mother's footsteps on the gravel of the parking lot. Abby is walking toward her, looking a bit thrown together, pulling a small suitcase behind her. Without acknowledging Clarke's presence, she opens the back of the van and fits her suitcase in at the top. She comes back to the front of the van and faces Clarke.

"So, you're good to take the bulk of today? I'll do the last two hours or so, if you want?" Abby says. Clarke is surprised; her mother had taken the full nine and a half hour journey from Iowa City the previous day.

"Sure, yeah, that'd be great. We should head now, to get back at a reasonable enough time tonight. We can get breakfast on the way?" Clarke asks, knowing Abby will definitely want to stop somewhere to get her morning coffee, and Clarke could do with one herself, considering the amount of sleep she got last night.

"Yeah, sounds good, let's go."

They both have to strain to climb up into the high van, and once Clarke is seated she has to take a breath to regain her composure. She fastens her seatbelt before starting the van and exiting the parking lot with a practised ease. Abby had made sure both she and Clarke were perfectly comfortable driving the van; she'd made them practise a few times before they left.

Clarke's window is rolled down halfway and she has a refreshing breeze blowing in her face as she drives along the road through the small town they're in. After about ten minutes, Clarke spots a gas station and points at it, seeing if this one's okay for Abby. She nods in response and Clarke switches on her turn signal before turning in and pulling up in front of a gas pump.

"I'll fill it up; you go on ahead and grab whatever you need. I'll pay for everything when this is done. Grab me a coffee, will you?" Abby says, as she hops out of the van.

"Yeah, sure", Clarke replies and leaves her mother the keys before heading inside the small shop. She loads up on snacks and a few bottles of water before grabbing two coffees. She peruses the magazines while waiting for her mother. She places everything on the cash desk when Abby trudges in a minute later.

They're back on the road in five minutes, and a half hour after that, Clarke is taking the exit onto the motorway. She's always loved driving; whenever she's stressed out or just needs to get away for a break (usually from her mother), she takes a drive and it calms her down. The air blowing in through the crack in Clarke's window is cooling her clammy skin, the sun now high in the sky and burning down.

After a while, Clarke switches on the radio, searching for a station. Getting only static in response, she leans down and fumbles with a few CDs under the steering wheel. She glances down to see what she'd brought at the last minute. Imagine Dragons, Ed Sheeran, an old Ramones one that belonged to her dad – Clarke puts this to the bottom of the pile – and, oh god, One Direction's newest album she'd bought as a joke for Raven. She slides in Ed Sheeran and allows the sound of his acoustic guitar lull her into a slight trance. She smiles at a few of the songs, early ones that she had started off learning to play the guitar on. She drums out the beats on the steering wheel and sings along under her breath. She can see her mother clenching her jaw at that last one; she'd always loved listening to Clarke sing, but in the past year it's only proven to remind her of Jake, of him with his ancient, beat up acoustic and a little Clarke with her shiny new one that she could barely fit her arm around, singing and playing together. Clarke stops singing after a while.

She doesn't play the Ramones CD.

/

They stop at another gas station, just as they're about to cross the border into Boston. Clarke had expected to be excited. Maybe a little nervous, when they reached this point, but she hadn't anticipated just how emotional she would feel about finally being reunited with her friends.

"I'll take it from here," Abby says wearily, and Clarke is worried she'll be too tired to drive but she hands the keys over with a small smile that goes unreturned and a quiet 'thanks' that goes unanswered . She hops into the passenger seat and adjusts the seat so she's leaning back and balls up her hoodie under her head to act as a pillow. She can feel the heaviness in her eyelids the moment she lays her head down.

"Wake me up when we're about half an hour away, will you?" Clarke asks, her voice slurring, her eyes half lidded. She barely stays awake long enough to hear Abby hum her agreement and the engine coming to life.

/

"Clarke? Clarke, we're nearly there. You awake?" Abby says lowly, her hand reaching over to prod at Clarke's shoulder. She jolts awake, her eyes snapping open, then closing again as she winces at the glare from the streetlights overhead. It's later than she expected; just gone nine. They had stopped for longer than they planned for lunch, finding a nice, small diner just before Abby had taken over the driving. Clarke blinks some of the exhaustion from her eyes and rubs their sockets with the heels of her hands.

"I'm up, thanks, Mom," Clarke's voice is gravelly from sleep and she clears her throat before she continues in a much clearer voice. "You good to drive the last bit, yeah?"

"Oh, yeah, no point switching now, we're almost there," Abby's voice was tense and Clarke knew she was nervous about coming back. There was a time when Clarke would have pushed and asked if she was alright, but that time was far in the past, so Clarke just nods and makes a small humming noise.

She pulls out her phone and takes a moment to smile at her screensaver. It's a picture of Raven, Octavia and Clarke, before Clarke had moved away, a candid Monty had snapped of them in the park, lying on a picnic blanket on their backs, looking up at the pink sky. Clarke's mouth is open in a laugh, Octavia's the same, and Raven is looking over at the two of them with a sappy smile on her face that Clarke remembers teasing her for afterwards. She hasn't changed her screensaver since that day, though all it did when she was in California was make her heart ache for home.

She sighs a happy little sigh at the familiar neighbourhood whizzing by outside her window, and lets a content smile take over her face as she looks back down at her phone. She opens Raven's last text, asking Clarke to call her when she was nearly home. She lifts the phone up to her ear and listens to it ring only twice before a breathless Raven answers.

"Clarke, hey! Sorry, I'm just walking home, running late," Raven says hurriedly, and Clarke can hear her footsteps on the sidewalk at a fast pace. "You nearly home?"

"Hey, yeah, we'll be about twenty minutes? Is that right, Mom?" Clarke looks over to her mom and she nods absentmindedly, her eyes drooping dangerously. Clarke eyes her nervously. "Yeah, twenty minutes. You want to meet somewhere? The diner maybe, we could have dinner there?"

"Yeah, sure, that sounds perfect. The gang suggested that earlier too. I can meet you at your house before though, if you want? It might be a bit much to take in the whole gang at once."

Unexpected tears rushed to the surface of Clarke's eyes; Raven had completely read her mind. She doesn't think she could face the others without Raven to lean on. She has to clear her throat before speaking, and her voice is gravelly when she does reply.

"Would you? I mean, yeah, if that's okay?" Clarke says quietly, not wanting to let Raven hear how scratchy her voice sounded. Raven laughs a quiet little laugh, and Clarke knows she's shaking her head and throwing her eyes up to the sky good naturedly, the way she does when someone is being ridiculous.

"Of course, Clarkey," she says, and Clarke refrains from protesting that god awful nickname. "Okay, I'm just home, I'm going to change and I'll see you soon, okay?" Raven's kind tone brings Clarke to the edge of tears again and she can only utter a quiet 'yeah, okay' before her voice cracks.

She hangs up the phone and takes a long breath in. She wills the tears away, hoping her mother doesn't take notice and look over. She doesn't.

Soon enough, they're making the turn onto their street that makes the cavity of Clarke's chest ache, and her breath hitch. She breathes in once again, but can't really hold back the tears when she sees Raven's familiar, slouchy stance, leaning up against the wall around Clarke's house. She is wearing an old Ark High sweater that makes Clarke have to stifle a laugh; Raven had been reluctant to buy that thing, but Octavia had made her, so the whole gang would be matching.

Clarke doesn't wait for the engine to stutter to a stop before she's unbuckling her seatbelt, opening the door and jumping out of the van in one fluid motion. Her feet pound the pavement as she sprints the last few steps to where Raven is, with a watery smile on her face. She flings her arms around Raven's neck and buries her face in her neck when she finally gets to her. She feels Raven's strong arms wrap around her middle, and hears her let out a teary laugh.

She lets the tears fall then, not caring that they soak through the worn material of Raven's jumper. She clings to Raven for a long while, slowly loosening her arms until they're just holding each other. She pulls back then, and rests her forehead on Raven's, keeping her eyes closed. She feels her best friend's hand come up and rest on the back of her neck, pulling her closer to her. Clarke is the one letting out the watery laugh then and she finally opens her eyes to take in Raven's tear soaked face and uncontained smile.

"Hey," Raven says simply, and Clarke lets out a full laugh at that, pulling back from Raven more, resting her hands on her shoulders. She joins in with Clarke's laughter and grasps Clarke's hands from her shoulders, holding them out in between them. "I missed you," she hushes out, and Clarke sobers quickly, and can only nod in response before her eyes well up again.

She pulls Raven back in for one last, tight hug, before reluctantly turning around to search for her mother. She keeps one of Raven's hands clasped in her own clammy one. Abby is no longer sitting in the cab of the van, she has moved around to the back to open the doors to grab her luggage. Once she's grabbed it she slams the doors and walks around to the two girls, standing close together. She arranges a fake looking smile on her tired face and fixes her gaze on the girls.

"Raven, great to see you," she says, with a faux warmness to her voice. Raven smiles politely back at her, wiping the wetness around her cheeks off, suddenly self conscious under Abby's judgemental gaze.

"You too, Mrs. Griffin. Glad to have you two back," she looks at Clarke when she adds that last bit, and Abby smiles awkwardly before walking past them and up to the front door. She unlocks it, drags her suitcase inside and shuts it behind her. Clarke lets out a breath of relief, and slumps against Raven, resting her forehead on the other girl's shoulder. She slings the arm that's not attached tightly to Clarke's around her shoulders and leans her chin on top of Clarke's head. "Still warm as ever, I see."

Clarke huffs out a bitter laugh at that and raises her head before replying.

"Would you expect anything less?" she says and rolls her eyes. Raven smiles slightly and looks down at her feet and takes a deep breath in.

"Not really," she says quietly, and looks up at Clarke with her goddamn puppy dog eyes.

"God, don't look at me like that. I'm done with crying for another hour at least," Clarke says and shields herself jokingly with her arm. "Speaking of, what's the plan for later?"

"Uh well, that all depends on you. We can go meet them now; they're waiting at the diner; Monty's parents are keeping it open for us. Or we could chill for a while, let you get settled in and go down to them later. Whichever you want, they're easy. I can give you a hand to unload too, if you want?" Raven says, with a quick glance toward the van behind Clarke, who sighs at the thought of unpacking. She's always hated it.

"Uh, second option sounds good, if you wouldn't mind?" Clarke's voice lilts upwards at the end of the sentence and she fixes Raven with her sweetest, most persuading smile.

Raven rolls her eyes. "'Course, come on, let's get started, I'll just send O a quick text."

They walk slowly toward the van together; Raven's arm still slung over Clarke's shoulders, texting rapidly with her other hand. Clarke looks up at the clear, familiar sky and breathes in the smell of home. Raven pockets her phone as they reach the back doors, and looks expectantly over at Clarke, who is dreading what's on the other side of them.

She pulls them open reluctantly and winces at the numerous bags and boxes stacked neatly there. "Okay, let's just grab a few things tonight. Some clothes and I'll see if I can put my hands on some clean bedding. I'll pass the bags to you." She starts moving things around and locates a few duffel bags she placed at the back, before they'd left California, so she'd be able to grab them quickly when she got home. The bedding is harder to find, but finally she locates a few sets in a box in the middle. She has to strain to pull it out, and Raven lets out a low whistle when her top rides up to reveal the sun kissed skin of her waist. She drops the box to flip off Raven, who snorts, before resuming her struggle.

Once all the luggage is piled on the sidewalk and Clarke has regained her breath (and pulled her old t-shirt down, shooting a glare at Raven) they grab a few items each and proceed toward the house. Clarke pushes the handle down with her elbow and shoves the door open with her shoulder.

The sight of the familiar hallway, with its light, hardwood floors, cream walls and one family photo on the table at the end of the stairs is enough to set off Clarke's tears off again, but she manages to choke them back. She shuffles her way up the stairs and walks down the carpeted landing to her bedroom at the end of it, hearing Raven struggling equally behind her.

Once she gets inside, she drops all her items unceremoniously in the middle of the floor, and turns around to see Raven do the same. She smiles warmly at Clarke. "Home, sweet home."

Clarke breathes out a laugh and surveys the mess in her otherwise empty room, except her double bed in the corner. She steps over a few bags to the light switch by the doorway and the room lights up. Clarke winces at seeing the state in better light and looks at Raven, who has a similar expression on her face. "It was better with the lights off," she groans, but starts to sort bags out as she says it. She gives Raven a few directions and soon enough, the two are making fast progress. She makes her bed with the fresh sheets found in the box, while Raven is delegated the task of sorting through one of the larger clothes bags.

Clarke fits the last corner with a grunt, and frowns when she hears Raven let out a low whistle from behind her. She faces her and rolls her eyes and crosses her arms at what Raven has in her hands.

"Scandalous, Clarkey," she says as she holds up the red lace thong in front of her and smirks up at Clarke, who scoffs at the nickname.

"Fuck you, Reyes, I don't even care," she says, grumbling slightly, and Raven rolls her eyes and clicks her tongue at Clarke, who smirks back at her, not rising to Raven's challenge. They go back to sorting, and after ten more minutes, Clarke hears Raven's stomach let out a loud growl. Raven winces and looks sheepishly at Clarke. She looks back at her, rolling her eyes and getting up off her knees, abandoning the half unpacked bag in front of her. "I suppose we'd better go, then," Raven laughs a bit at this, and nods in agreement. "Let me just change."

Clarke starts rooting through the recently unpacked clothes in her practically empty wardrobe, before she evidently finds what she's looking for. She pulls off her ratty t-shirt and pulls the crew neck Ark High sweater that matches Raven's over her head. Raven barks out a laugh and Clarke just smiles innocently back at her and shrugs. She tugs off her old jeans, and pulls on a pair that have a considerably less of stains on them, and fewer holes. She slips her feet back into her high tops.

"I'm just gonna use the bathroom real quick," she says to Raven as she walks out the door. She reviews her appearance in the mirror and is pleasantly surprised by how put together she looks. Okay, her hair is a bit of a disgrace, and her glasses still rest on the bridge of her nose, but her eyes are brighter, and the bags are nearly gone from under them. She washes cold water over her face anyway, relieves herself quickly, washes her hands and heads out to Raven again.

"Ready?" she asks, as she assesses Clarke in the doorway. She gets to her feet.

"As I'll ever be," Clarke says dramatically and Raven gives her shoulder a shove as they walk down the hallway side by side. Clarke leaves a quick note for her mother on the table at the end of the stairs, though she knows it's unnecessary. Abby won't wonder where she is.

The cool breeze runs through her despicable hair, and Clarke sighs as the stress that was etched into her bones is smoothed away by the air that smells solely of home. Raven smiles over at her and Clarke slings an arm over her shoulder as they walk slowly down the quiet street.

/

As they near the diner, Clarke's heart is in her mouth again. Worse this time, now that there's more than one person waiting for her, and she's had plenty of time to over think the possible situations. Her nerves become evident on her face as they round a corner and the diner's neon sign comes into view. Clarke slows her walk, so that she's barely moving and Raven turns to look questioningly at her. She understands when she sees Clarke's worryingly pale face and wide eyes fixed on the building across the street. Raven stops and stands in front of Clarke, who refuses to make eye contact. She places her hands on Clarke's shoulders and bends down, searching for Clarke's nervous eyes. When she finally meets Raven's gaze, she visibly gulps and Raven sighs, not unkindly, and wraps one arm loosely around Clarke's shoulders. She buries her face in Raven's neck and takes several deep, calming breaths. She pulls herself back then, shakes her nerves off, and nods at Raven silently. They continue walking, albeit at a snail's pace, Clarke's arm loped through Raven's, her hand occasionally squeezing Raven's bicep nervously.

Once they reach the edge of the diner, and the inside comes into view, Clarke spots the gang straight away, sitting in their regular booth. She sees Monty's smiling face first, his arm resting on the table in front of him. Octavia next, head thrown back in loud laughter, which she can hear the ghost of from outside, her feet propped up on the seat opposite her. She sees a mop of curly brown hair that can only belong to Bellamy, and she feels a pang because she wasn't expecting him to be there. She doesn't get a chance to take in Jasper or Lincoln, because Octavia has spotted them through the window, and her laugh is frozen on her face that has changed since Clarke last saw her. Clarke smiles, uncontained, and more tears rush to the surface. She watches as Octavia, throws a hand over her mouth, sees tears already glistening on her cheeks as she rushes out of the booth and out the door.

The others catch on then, and she hears exclaims of surprise and happiness, but takes no notice because Octavia is barrelling towards her, laughing, and she hears Raven do the same next to her and then she's being engulfed by O, who jumps at her, and Clarke wraps her arms around her slim middle and lifts her slightly off balance with the force of her embrace. She feels another jolt, and sees a mop of black hair, above Octavia's head buried in her neck that can only belong to Monty and she lets out a joyous laugh. She reaches an arm around somehow and ruffles his hair, before cupping the back of his head and pulling him forward to place a kiss on his forehead. Octavia looks up at her then, and squeals right in her face before she is being pulled back gently but firmly by Raven and the others descend on Clarke.

Jasper shoves his way near her and does exactly what she thought he'd do; he picks her up and spins her around once and she laughs freely and carelessly. She ruffles his hair and squeezes his hand when she is firmly back on the ground, before Lincoln and Bellamy reach her. They sandwich her between and she squeals in surprise, and laughs before pushing her way out and hugging them both separately. She sees one more person behind them, and she is so surprised to see Miller standing there that she lets out another laugh as she hugs him tightly. When she is finally released, she stands back and surveys them all.

Octavia is pressed into Lincoln's side, tears still streaming down her cheeks. There's a wide smile on Bellamy's face as he stands on O's other side, next to Raven who, god, has the widest grin on her face, Clarke is totally going to mock her for later. Monty is wiping is eyes and smiling widely, one arm around Jasper's shoulder. His smile is nearly splitting his face. Finally, Miller stands on the other side of Monty, and he's the only one not looking at Clarke. He's looking straight at Monty, and she internally groans and rolls her eyes because, Jesus, have those two not gotten their shit together yet?

She laughs again and everyone kind of falls into a tight group hug, Clarke right in the middle of them, happy tears falling from her face as she is nearly lifted from her feet by Bellamy. They don't break apart for a while, and when they finally do, Octavia latches onto Clarke's side, Monty on her other and they slowly make their way back to their regular booth, in the back corner of the diner.

Clarke thinks, it's good to be _home._


End file.
